Baseball pitching targets are usually employed to develop and improve pitching control and accuracy. They are normally used by an individual player to practice his pitching. In baseball, the term "strike zone" is the vertical rectangular area through which a pitcher must throw a baseball to register a strike. The dimensions of this rectangular area are a given width and an adjustable height normally defined by the distance between the knees and the shoulders or armpits of the baseball player at bat. The height and location of the strike zone will thus vary according to a particular player's height and batting stance.
In training a player to throw accurately, a coach would prefer that he not only practice throwing at a specific point, but to practice placing the ball at various spots within the strike zone. The coach may want to force the pitcher to adapt to the real-life problems of differently sized players, right-/left-handed batters, etc. by changing the size and location of the simulated strike zone and the simulated catcher's mitt/target. Heretofore, practice devices for defining a strike zone or the receiving area of a pitched ball have generally been rigid structures with a rectangular opening. The rectangular openings define the strike zone and are usually not realistic because they cannot be adjusted to simulate the correct size and location of the zone for individual batters. Unless both the size and the location of a target's strike zone can be varied to perfectly fit different batters, both the pitchers and batters will learn improperly. The pitcher will not learn the varying limits of the strike zone for different batters, and a particular batter will not learn his own limits.
A number of U.S. patents have been granted for baseball pitching targets as an aid for improving the accuracy of a pitch. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,191,605 to Mertz, is a game apparatus wherein the player, i.e. the pitcher, throws a first ball and if he strikes the target properly, an impulse is imparted to a second ball or projectile, which projectile is thrown towards the player for fielding and throwing into a basket to score points. This apparatus is large in size, complex in construction having weights, pulleys and the like and with no batting figure. Furthermore, for pitching practice alone it is unnecessary to have the ball returned to the pitcher.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,658,329 granted to Ciccarello, is a swingable strike zone baseball device which has an outline in the shape of a baseball figure with a full rectangular strike zone attached thereto. This strike zone is bounded by rods which rods when hit by the force of the ball will swing the strike zone (the "gate") away from the pitcher. The device may be provided with means to return the struck gate into planar relationship with the baseball figure. It is therefore, only when the periphery of the strike zone is hit is the gate activated thereby only grossly defining the target. Furthermore, there is no means to adjust the height of the gate for different heights or for the positional aspects of the batter.
Mahieu was granted U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,188 whose target is of window shade-like construction of a constant width and variable height equal to that of the strike zone having the impression of a catcher thereon and affixed to vertical telescopic pipes whose height can be adjusted to accommodate batters of varying dispositions. The inventor points out that the device can only be used with a soft or plastic ball since, "A hard ball would not be appropriate because it could crash through the target." Such a soft ball would hardly simulate an actual pitcher's delivery. Furthermore, there is no swing arm and it is merely a display,
U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,434 to Helmetsie is designed not only as a baseball pitcher's target but also as a target for soccer or lacrosse. Consequently, it involves what amounts to a soccer goal and net with a strike zone suspended in the central portion by means of elastic supporting cords. The strike zone may also embody a catcher's mitt-like target for more accuracy. However, the larger goal zone, the elastic cords and the nature of the strike zone structure are deemed to be highly distracting to a baseball pitcher who is striving for precision throwing.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,935 granted to Meharg discloses an inflatable batter dummy having an accordion-like structure allowing it to be shortened or lengthened to accommodate various sized batters. Fluorescent stripes thereon can identify the height of the strike zone, while a depiction of a home plate on a mat defines the width thereof. There is neither any attempt to embody a swinging arm action, nor a precisely located target nor a home plate clearly visible to a batter.
As a result of the deficiencies associated with the prior art, the applicant invented the apparatus described in detail below.
It is therefore, a primary object of the invention to provide a novel baseball pitching target which is inexpensive to manufacture, yet durable and safe to use.
It is a further objective to provide such a device which can be set-up by one person in a few minutes without special tools.
It is yet another object to provide a baseball pitching target having an adjustable strike zone that is variable in height to realistically represent the strike zone for a particular sized batter.
It is an additional object to provide a simulated catcher's mitt which not only more precisely defines the target for practice rather than the entire strike zone, but when hit swings backward and automatically resets to the original position.
It is still another object to have the device reversible so that either a right-handed or left-handed batter can be displayed.
It is a final object to provide a life-size image of a batter to realistically create the home plate environment without distractions and which image can be folded to a smaller size for ease of transport and storage.